Nowadays, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is utilized as a technique for monitoring and managing a network system that includes network equipment such as switches, Fibre Channel switches (FC switch) and the like.
An SNMP-based monitoring system includes an SNMP manager that collects MIB (Management Information Base) information from monitored object equipment (equipment as an object to be monitored) to judge the status of the monitored object equipment and SNMP agents that send the SNMP manager the MIB information. The SNMP manager collects the MIB information from, for example, ten to one hundred SNMP agents and detects a failure on the basis of the collected MIB information.
For example, a management device that includes the SNMP manager (hereinafter, referred to as a management device) stores the MIB definition file of each piece of network equipment that includes the SNMP agent and is an object to be monitored (hereinafter, referred to as monitored object equipment).
In addition, the network equipment that includes the SNMP agent also includes an MIB information storage area that stores “MIB information” indicating “OID” used to identify each monitored object in correspondence with “Status Information” indicating the status of each monitored object.
Incidentally, the MIB definition file also includes information which is the same as the MIB information.
In the case that information such as, for example, “OID” as the MIB information has been received from monitored object equipment in a situation as mentioned above, the management device specifies “Status Information” from the MIB definition file that the management device itself stores on the basis of the received OID. That is, the management device specifies the status of each piece of equipment in accordance with the MIB information which has been received from each piece of monitored object equipment.
Therefore, it is desirable that the MIB information which is managed in the MIB definition file of the management device matches MIB information which is managed in the MIB information storage region in the monitored object equipment concerned.
Next, an example in which, for example, the MIB information is different for different version of firmware will be described. For example, in MIB information obtained before the firmware is upgraded (Ver.6.3.0a), an MIB tree that includes “1.3.x.x.x.1, ON”, “1.3.x.x.x.2, OFF”, “1.3.x.x.x.3, restart” and others as data of “OID, Status Information” is stored.
In MIB information obtained after the firmware has been upgraded (Ver.6.3.0b), an MIB tree that includes “1.3.x.x.x.1, ON”, “1.3.x.x.x.2, restart”, “1.3.x.x.x.3, OFF” and others as data of “OID, Status Information” is stored.
In comparing the above mentioned tress with each other, it is found that the values “1.3.x.x.x.2” and “1.3.x.x.x.3” of OID are different from each other. In the above mentioned situation, for example, in the case the management device stores the MIB information obtained before the firmware is upgraded and the monitored object equipment stores the MIB information obtained after the firmware has been upgraded, the monitored object equipment will send the management device “1.3.x.x.x.2” as the value of OID.
In the above mentioned case, the management device specifies “restart” as “Status Information” of the monitored object equipment in accordance with “1.3.x.x.x.2” (=OID). However, “Status Information” of the monitored object corresponding to “1.3.x.x.x.2” (=OID) is “OFF” in reality. That is, the management device may erroneously specify the status of the monitored object equipment.
As described above, the MIB information that the monitored object equipment manages is changed in accordance with the version of the firmware that the monitored object equipment includes. Therefore, the MIB definition file stored in the management is updated with upgrading the firmware.
However, in related art, MIB information that an SNMP agent holds and MIB information that an SNMP manager holds are managed independently of each other, so that it may sometimes occur that updated statuses of management information that the SNMP agent and the SNMP manager manage are different from each other. That is, it may sometimes occur that management information on network equipment stored in both of the management side that manages the network equipment and the equipment side as a monitored object to be commonly used for detection of a failure does not match each other.
As described above, in the case that the updated statuses of the management information that the SNMP agent and the SNMP manager manage are different from each other, such a problem may generate that it is difficult to monitor and manage the information on the basis of the SNMP with accuracy.
For example, as described above, in the case that the MIB information which is held in the SNMP agent has been changed with upgrading the firmware or the like, it is desirable to change the MIB information which is held in the SNMP manager with no delay. Then, in the case that the MIB information held in the SNMP manager is to be updated, it may be unavoidable to stop the operation of the SNMP manager, that is, to stop the operation of the SNMP-based monitoring and management system concerned.
On the other hand, the SNMP manager manages such a large number of SNMP agents as to reach up to one hundred or more agents in a large scale system, so that stopping of the system may impede the operation of the entire system. Therefore, it may become unavoidable to perform scheduling so as to update the MIB information held in the SNMP manager at a timing that may not impede the operation of the system.
Thus, such a situation may generate that although the MIB information held in the SNMP agent has been changed, the MIB information held in the SNMP manager is not yet changed. While the above mentioned situation is lasting, the MIB information held in the SNMP agent may be left in a state that it is different from that held in the SNMP manager. As a result, such a serious situation may occur that it becomes difficult to monitor and manage the information on the basis of the SNMP with accuracy.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-333072 is one example of related art and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-68745 is another example of related art.